Russian BM-35 drones are on the hunt. Their targets are Ukraine’s most expensive Western missile systems like Patriots and HIMARS.
Russian forces claimed to destroy a Patriot battery's AN/MPQ-53 radar system in January, but Russian correspondent Mikhail Podoliaka wrote that they took out a realistic decoy. Regardless, the threat of mid-range precision strikes remains, Ukrainians say.
This could further limit where Ukraine can afford to deploy such fancy systems, at least without sufficient cover, Oleksandr Kovalenko, a war analyst with Ukrainian NGO Sprotyv, wrote for Obozrevatel.
If this happens, that may complicate Ukraine's ability to protect areas closer to the front from ballistic missile attacks until it has reliable technological and tactical countermeasures for these drones.
“It’s true. Russian units', especially Rubicon's use of such medium-range drones with visual control and target guidance, significantly complicates work in the near-rear,” Anton Zemlyanyi, a senior analyst with the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, told Euromaidan Press.
At first, the BM-35 — the Shahed's smaller cousin — struggled to find its niche,
But now with Starlink upgrades and tactical development by Russia’s elite Rubicon group, this drone seems to have found one: trying to snipe high-value targets behind the front, while shrugging off electronic countermeasures.
“The Patriot air defense system and HIMARS are priority targets for the Russians, they are constantly hunting for them,” Zemlyanyi said. “We are not only talking about drones; the Russians use both ballistic and cruise missiles to attack our equipment.”
Nevertheless, the Ukrainian military is constantly updating its own tactics and has ways to deal with the threat, he added.
Serhiy Flash, a serviceman, radio engineering specialist, and popular defense communicator, wrote that drone interceptors could be a way to deal with smaller attack UAVs like the BM-35 and Molniya.
A Shahed in miniature
The BM-35 first appeared in combat in early September 2025, when Ukrainian forces intercepted video signals from a drone attacking Sumy.
The General Intelligence Directorate (GUR) database does not list a manufacturer. Some in Ukraine’s military news ecosystem, including Kovalenko, speculate that they’re produced by ZALA Aero Group, which also makes the Italmas kamikaze drones.
The BM-35 is a delta-wing design, with a frontal propeller spun by a two-stroke gasoline engine. The drone uses an analog video transmission system operating at 3.3 GHz and a camera for target guidance.
In mid-January, Ukrainian air defense intercepted a BM-35 equipped with a Starlink satellite terminal, as reported by Serhiy Flash.
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This makes the drone highly resistant to electronic warfare while minimizing latency with the controller.
According to GUR’s database, the drone uses at least 41 foreign parts, from China, Taiwan, the US, Switzerland, and elsewhere.
“For now, the only obstacle to the production of this weapon, especially given its dependence on foreign components, remains the capacity of production lines,” Kovalenko wrote for Obozrevatel.
But if Russia solves this issue, Ukrainians may face another threat all across the near-rear.
Ukraine needs to preserve its Patriots
Ukraine critically needs its Patriot systems intact, operational, and supplied with missiles.
As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 20 January, the Russians have greatly increased how many ballistic missiles they are firing against Ukraine's infrastructure.
Ukraine is well-practiced at dealing with attack drones like Shaheds. Cruise missiles can be taken out by aircraft or older, cheaper ground-based systems.
But ballistic trajectories require air defenses specifically built to handle them, like the Patriot and its PAC-3 missiles. "Nothing else works," Zelenskyy said.
